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Monday, June 17, 2013

Vatican
City, 15 June 2013
(VIS) – Members of the administrative council of the "Populorum
Progressio" Foundation will gather from 18 to 21 June in
Arequipa, Peru, for their annual meeting to deliberate on the
financing of development projects in support of indigenous, mestizo,
and rural African-American communities in Latin America and the
Caribbean. From its establishment in 1992, the "Populorum
Progressio" Foundation has been entrusted to the Pontifical
Council “Cor Unum”.

This
is the council's first meeting under the pontificate of Pope Francis,
who has spoken with great clarity of “a poor Church for the poor”
and who lives his power in humble service, attentive to the
outskirts, the villages, and the least ones who are rich only in the
charity that comes from above. These will be the reference and the
stimulus for the decisions that will be made. The main beneficiaries
of “Populorum Progressio”, indigenous and rural communities in
particular, are at risk of being the “human periphery” in a
continent that is experiencing a phase of significant economic
development, but which is characterized by large social inequalities
that especially penalize those segments of the population that remain
on the margins of such development.

In
this context, it is the hope of all the Council members to organize,
for next year, their annual meeting in Rome, to have the opportunity
to receive direction and guidance on the Foundation's future directly
from Pope Francis.

This
year, 222 projects were presented by 18 countries including:
Colombia, Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador. The projects are characterized
by a broadly participatory approach on the part of the local
communities that contribute to all the phases of the projects: from
its conception to its concrete realization in the event of a
project's approval. These initiatives serve to meet the needs in
various areas: production (agriculture and farming, craftsmanship,
micro-businesses); community infrastructure (potable water, latrines,
community halls); education (training, scholastic equipment,
publications); health (prevention campaigns, medical equipment for
clinics); and construction (educational and health centres).

The
main support of “Populorum Progressio”—alongside individual
faithful, dioceses, and various institutes—comes through the
Italian Episcopal Conference.